The Story of a Narcoleptic Genius
by Yume Youki
Summary: Naruto is a smart-mouth. He sleeps all day, aces everything, and has at least 500 victims to his verbal assaults. This is the tale of one Narcoleptic Genius and how he made his way through the world. Rated for my paranoia.
1. Meet Your Sensei

_Working on two stories so that I don't get bored. Here's the second one. I'll be switching between stories every two chapters._

The Story of a Narcoleptic Genius

Summary: Naruto is a smart-mouth. He sleeps all day, aces everything, and has at least 500 victims to his verbal assaults. This is the tale of one Narcoleptic Genius and how he made his way through the world. Rated for my paranoia.

I don't own Naruto.

[-|Break|-]

Uzumaki Naruto was a smart-ass. There were no two ways about it, and even if there were, I doubt anyone could agree on what it would be.

The really strange thing, though, was that Naruto slept, like, _constantly._ Seriously, the guy never woke up! He was always at least partially asleep, never paying full attention, and he _still_ managed to be a smart-ass and ace everything.

Considering this narcolepsy and verbal habit, it should come as no surprise that people try to prank him and wake him up.

Not that it ever worked, mind.

"Heads up, Naruto! Haha!" Kiba yelled, as he tried to tackle the blonde to the ground.

Only problem was that Naruto wasn't there anymore, but two seats over. . .still sleeping peacefully.

"Teme. . ." Kiba said, irritated.

"You know, Kiba," came a quiet, sleepy voice from behind him, "you really don't have any right calling me 'bastard' when you were the one trying to wake me up – and if you want it to work next time, maybe you should think about _not _announcing your presence to the whole class."

Kiba turned to see a sleepy looking Naruto resting his head in his hand, eye half-lidded, and yet still managing to give Kiba a "you're an idiot" look. Kiba tried to tackle this second blonde, but it poofed out of existence as soon as he tried, and when Kiba looked around, he saw Naruto sitting at the back of the classroom. . .sleeping.

"Does that guy _ever _wake up?" Kiba moaned, before quickly taking a seat as Iruka walked in.

"Well done, all of you, for passing your exams. Now, I'm going to read off your team – you have no choice on whose team you are placed on. You're not allowed to argue, so you're gonna have to just suck it up and deal with it. Am I clear?" There was a general muttering of "Yes, Iruka-sensei", so he continued. "The teams are as follows (A/N – I'm only listing the important ones): Team 6 is Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. You're sensei is Sarutobi Asuma. Team 7 is Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. You're sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 is Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata. You're sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. That is all. You'll wait for your teachers here until they arrive to get you."

Over the course of the next hour, everyone's sensei's came to get their teams. . . everyone except Team 7, that is. Two hours after that, and Uchiha Sasuke was getting increasingly irritated with Haruno Sakura as the girl loudly wondered where their Jounin instructor was (she had given up on getting a date from him and moved on to this). Sasuke looked over at Naruto to see if he was bothered by Sakura, and nearly slammed his head into the desk in frustration upon seeing that Naruto was still sleeping.

Deciding that it was high time that he get the narcoleptic up (and looking for any excuse to get away from Sakura), he got up and walked over to the kid and shook his shoulder. "Hey, Naruto."

"Mmph mmph ah? What is it, Sasuke?" asked Naruto, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Don't you think that it's about time to wake up?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke with a small grin, his eyes still half-lidded. "That depends – what time is it?"

"Nearly 3:35."

"Nope, definitely not then."

"Dobe, do you ever wake up?"

"Not really. I prefer sleeping."

". . ."

". . .Something wrong?"

". . .Have you noticed that our Jounin instructor isn't here yet and we're the only ones left in the room?"

". . .Do you really think so low of me that you believe that my observation skills are _that _pathetic?"

". . .Since you sleep all the time, how am I supposed to know otherwise?"

"Point taken."

"So, where do you think he is?"

"Our Jounin sensei? Well, considering Kakashi-san, he's probably going to walk in here in about five minutes, and say, 'Sorry I'm late, but a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way'."

"You know our Jounin instructor personally?"

"Unfortunately."

". . .Would he really say something like that?"

"How much are you willing to bet?"

". . .A thousand ryou."

"You're on. Wake me up when I win." And with that, Naruto put his head back down and promptly went back to sleep.

"What makes him so confident he's going to win?" Sasuke muttered to himself as he went back to his seat. . . only to return to be bothered by Sakura, who now wanted to know what he had talked to Naruto about. "Nothing," Sasuke said, irritated. "We didn't talk about anything."

Six minutes later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all headed to the roof, Naruto now one thousand ryou richer than he had been before. When they got there, they saw Kakashi leaning against the railing casually.

"Took you guys long enough. Come over here and sit down." Once they had done so, he continued. "Let's start by getting to know each other a little better. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future."

"Kakashi, why don't you tell us about yourself first? These other two haven't met you before," Naruto said, yawning as he finished saying that.

"I'm your sensei now, Naruto."

". . .And? You're point it?"

"My point is that I would prefer it if you would call me Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto looked at Kakashi for a moment, the struck a thinking pose, head titled and hand grasping chin, before looking back at Kakashi and saying cheerfully, "I'll note you're protest. Now then, why don't you tell us about yourself, Kakashi?"

Kakashi's eye twitched. "Fine. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes are. . ." He hummed a bit. "Dislikes are. . ." Once again, he hummed. "My hobbies include. . ." Once again, that damned humming. "And I don't have any dreams for the future."

The other three sweatdropped. _All we learned was his name,_ they thought.

"Now then, you first, chicken butt." Sasuke shot a glare at Kakashi as the others snickered at the nickname.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have very few likes, one of which is training, and a lot of dislikes, which include fangirls. My hobbies include reading my way through my clan's extensive library, learning new jutsus, and fighting. I don't have a dream, so much as an. . . ambition. I wish to kill a certain man, and restore my clan."

"You next, piglet." Naruto snickered at the nickname, while Sasuke smirked.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes include reading and. . ." she glanced at Sasuke for a moment, before looking away again, blushing. "My dislikes include perverts and difficult-to-deal-with people." At this, Naruto started coughing. "What is it, Naruto?"

"Oh, nothing. I agree with you, though, I also dislike difficult-to-deal-with people." Kakashi and Sasuke hid smirks at this, but Sakura didn't notice.

Shooting a suspicious glance at Naruto, she continued, "My hobbies are reading and thinking my way through problems. and my dream for the future is. . ." She glanced at Sasuke again, before looking away, blushing again.

"You're last, Señor Smartmouth." Naruto grinned at the nickname, while they others looked slightly miffed that theirs were worse than his.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like reading and training, taking care of animals, and people who are kind to everybody. My dislikes include judgmental and mean people, people who hurt others, and loud noises." His eyes strayed over to Sakura as he said the last part. "My hobbies are sleeping the day away and poking fun at everybody that I meet, as well as surprising those around me. My dream is to become a Sennin and to travel the world, before eventually coming back to Konoha and becoming Hokage."

"Big dream, Naruto. And since when do you train?"

"Since when do you pay enough attention to what other people say to actually ask questions?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I pay attention sometimes. . ." Kakashi said. Naruto snorted. "No, really!"

"If that's true, then who are you and what have you done to Kakashi?"

"Sensei, Naruto, _sensei!_ I'm your teacher now!"

"And I'm a monkey's mother. You still haven't given us the true Genin test, so how could you know if Team 7 is still going to be around once you're done?"

Kakashi looked stunned. "You know about that?"

"My connections are frickin' amazing. You going to tell us about the Genin test now, or can I go home without worrying about it?"

"No, there's a Genin test. Meet at training ground 7 tomorrow at 7 o'clock." Kakashi was about to hold up his hands in a seal, before he stopped and added, "Oh, don't eat breakfast, by the way. You'll puke." And with that and a swirl of leaves, he was gone.

"I'm gonna go too. See you guys tomorrow at 9 o'clock," Naruto said. He started walking back to the exit.

"9? But Naruto, Kakashi-sensei said that we were meeting up at 7!"

"And? He'll be at least two hours late, so I'm going to sleep in. Later." And with that, Naruto was gone.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, then both left as well.


	2. One Part Failure, Two Parts Success

Next Installment! Oh, and to answer some of your reviews:)

Devil-O-Angel – Quite! XD You might be surprised though. . .

Kagami Kamiya – Actually, he's not portrayed as a Shikamaru. He's himself – didn't I say he aces everything? No, he's definitely not the deadlast. And just for the record, the team pairing is. . . Well, you'll find out in this installment. And don't worry about the shuffling. . . I have a plan. . . :)

Guest 1 – Don't know what that means, but thanks for the review! :)

College6Jazz – Thank you. As for getting in trouble? It actually gets him out of trouble. . . You'll see soon enough.

Koroby – Thank you!

Guest 2 – Sennin may mean that, I don't know, but just for the record, Sennin is a title _and _a rank, as far as I can tell from cannon. Not an official rank, or anything, but a kind of rank, nonetheless, that can be obtained and given, since it has certain privileges that go along with it. Naruto wants to become a Sennin with his team, also. He wants to travel the world with his team, hopefully, and that's a privilege that Sennin are given. However, Naruto is determined to travel the world in some way, before he becomes Hokage, he just thinks that becoming a Sennin is the best route to take. Thanks for the review, by the way!

* * *

The Story of a Narcoleptic Genius –

One Part Failure, Two Parts Success

The next morning found Sasuke and Sakura at training ground seven, waiting for both their sensei and other teammate. Sasuke, in particular, was finding this arrangement to be highly annoying. Why, oh why, did he have to be stuck with this pink monstrosity that never left him alone? Why did she have to be one of his fangirls? _Would she ever shut up and stop asking for a date?__  
_

By the time Naruto showed up, Sasuke was at the ends of his patience and looking for any reason whatsoever to get away from the _thing _(there was no way in hell that Sakura could be a girl, in his opinion) that had been making his life hell for the past two hours. "Naruto!" he called, walking away from Sakura.

Naruto yawned as he walked up. He rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. He looked up to see Sasuke standing there staring at him with Sakura (or the pink banshee, as Naruto liked to think of her) off behind him, looking between Sasuke and Naruto as if wondering what was going on.

"Naruto, do you want to spar a little?" Sasuke asked, smirking. Inside, however, he was trying to hide the hopeful feeling that was making it's way through him.

"Depends - you willing to get your ass whipped?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrow. Sasuke scoffed.

"As if you could beat me."

"Beware of hubris, Sasuke - the bigger they are, the harder they fall," Naruto said, staring at Sasuke with an unreadable look in his eyes. He made his was up to the training ground and turned to face Sasuke.

"Hubris...?" Sasuke muttered, walking to stand opposite Naruto. He shook his head, and got into his stance.

Then he noticed that Naruto had his hands in his pockets and was looking at him expectantly. "Dobe, aren't you going to use any kind of taijutsu form?"

"Don't need to."

"...You're funeral."

"That is entirely dependent upon whether you can beat me, now isn't it?" Naruto smirked.

Sasuke's eye ticked and he charged at Naruto, using his speed to try and get a hit on him.

Punch.

Dodge.

Punch. Punch.

Dodge.

Kick.

Block.

"Damn," Sasuke said, jumping away from Naruto before the guy could grab his ankle. He charged Naruto again, looking for any kind of opening. You'd think that a guy who's fighting with his hands in his pockets would have all kinds of openings for you to exploit, wouldn't you?

Apparently not.

"How are you doing that? You're not even using any kind of taijutsu stance or anything and yet I can't find an opening!" Sasuke said in frustration.

"That's because you're so busy looking for an opening in my stance that you don't notice all of the openings in yours. I could have killed you seven times at least by now, and twelve other times I could have seriously injured you. Instead of focusing on my attack and defense moves, why don't you try to read my emotions or predict what I'm going to do?" Naruto said. He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand, before rubbing his eyes sleepily. "On second thought, how about we cut this match off here and rest. I'm sleepy."

And just like that, Naruto walked off, laid down beneath a tree and fell asleep.

Sasuke's eye twitched in irritation.

"Sasuke-kun, what did Naruto mean when he said he could have killed you seven times?" Sakura said, sidling up beside him.

Sasuke's eye twitched again. Naruto had left him to deal with the Pink Banshee all alone.

Damn him.

[-|55 Minutes Later|-]

"Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" shrieked, you guessed it, Ms. Pink Banshee.

Kakashi put a pinky to his ear as he winced at the noise.

"Sakura, I think you just made him deaf."

"SHUT UP, NARUTO!"

"Says who?"

"SAYS ME!"

"Ah, yes, the Pink Banshee. What a pleasure you must be to your parents when you shriek like that."

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" Sakura asked slowly. She turned around and slammed her fist into Naruto's head - only for Naruto to poof out of existence.

"Ah man, now look what you did, Little Miss Cherry Blossom! I was gonna have my clone do all the work for me today while I slept. And you just have to go and knock him out, don't you?" Came a voice from up a tree. They all turned to see Naruto up there, sitting comfortably while he scowled down at Sakura. He suddenly got a contemplative look on his face as he stared at her though, and then he said, "Although I'm surprised he wasn't destroyed sooner, what with you blowing people's eardrums out like that."

"NARUTO! Get down here so I can hit you!"

"Now, why would I do a silly thing like that?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO!"

"And why should you saying so affect me in any way?"

"Because if you don't do what I say, then I'm going to come up there after you, and it's going to hurt even more." Sakura's voice was dangerous now.

"If you think you can climb this tree, then by all means, be my guest. I could use some amusement."

"You little-!"

"Ma, ma, let's all stop for now, shall we?" Kakashi said, trying to keep the peace. "I still haven't given you the Genin test, which is why you're all here, right?"

"Well, I don't know about Sakura, but yeah, that's why I'm here."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"Naruto, could you please stop, just for a moment?" Kakashi pleaded.

Naruto stared at Kakashi for a minute, then shrugged, and said, "Sure, I'll stop."

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Naruto. Now, the purpose of this test is simple." He pulled out two bells from his pocket. "These two bells are your ticket to becoming Genin."

"But there's only two of them," Sakura said, confused.

"Yep. Only two of you will become Genin."

"WHAT?" Sasuke and Sakura yelled. Naruto, Kakashi noticed, hadn't said anything, but instead was looking at him shrewdly. _He already knows that this is a bluff,_ Kakashi thought.

"Your mission is to get one of these from me. If you can get a bell, you become Genin. If you don't, well, you won't get a second chance," Kakashi said. "Oh, by the way - you have to get it from me before 11 o'clock, or I'll tie you to one of the posts and eat your lunch."

"That's...harsh..." muttered Sakura.

"So...we just have to get a bell from you?" Sasuke asked.

"It won't be as easy as you think, Sasuke," said Naruto from up in his tree. "Kakashi is a full-fledged Jounin - and we're technically still Academy students until he decides to pass us. No," Naruto said, and he dropped 30 feet down to the ground, "this isn't going to be easy."

Sasuke looked at Naruto and saw that, for once, Naruto was fully alert, and staring at Kakashi as if waiting for something.

"Mission start."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw Naruto disappear completely. _Where...?_ He thought, narrowing his eyes. He looked to see where Sasuke and Sakura had run off to, only to realize that they were no longer anywhere in sight. _Did Naruto take them with him? _Kakashi wondered idly. He shrugged to himself and pulled out a little orange book to start reading.

[-|Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura|-]

"_I refuse to work with you, Naruto!_" Sakura hissed out.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Then fail. It makes no difference to me. However, if you refuse to work with me, then I'm afraid that you're not allowed to listen to this discussion."

"And just how are you going to stop me?"

"Like this." And without another word, Naruto picked her up bridal style and carried her away from where Sasuke sat feeling nonplussed. When Naruto came back, he made a few hand seals, and Sasuke looked around.

"What did you just do?"

"I made a barrier that she can't enter through."

"...Brilliant. Teach me to do that - I'm tired of listening to her in the morning."

Naruto grinned. "Later. Right now, we have to plan..."

[-|60 Minutes Later with Sakura|-]

She was tied to a post. She knew why she was tied to a post - she hadn't bothered to try to get a bell - but the fact that it was her, and not Naruto, really pissed her off. What was more, her lunch was taken from her, and Kakashi had told the other two that they weren't allowed to give her any of their own food.

"Sakura, we need to keep your strength up - here, take some of my food," Naruto said to her.

_He's talking to me. The worm is talking to me, _Sakura thought in horror. "I DON'T WANT ANY OF YOUR FOOD, NARUTO!"

"In which case, you won't get any of my food either, for disrespecting your other teammate."

"But, Sasuke-kun..."

"Haruno, either learn to work with Naruto, or get the hell out of our team."

Sakura felt like crying.

"That was kind of harsh, Sasuke."

"I don't care."

"..." Naruto sighed, but didn't comment further. He turned back to Sakura. "C'mon, Cherry Blossom, eat some food. We need you to be able to fight, and you can't do that effectively on an empty stomach."

Sakura shook her head, hiding her eyes as she fought to keep tears from falling.

"Sakura, if you won't accept food, then I'll force it into your mouth," Naruto said flatly.

"I...don't want... to eat anything." Sakura's voice quavered.

"Then here we go," Naruto said, and picked a piece of his food up, and was just about to force it down Sakura's mouth when there was a loud bang, and Kakashi was there, looking genuinely furious.

"Naruto, put the food down. You shouldn't have to force it down your teammate's throat. And Sakura..." Sakura gulped. "You are not fit to be a kunoichi. This whole test was meant to see if you guys could work together - Naruto and Sasuke can. And they tried to help you do the same. But you obviously can't. I will be speaking to the Hokage about this. I want to pass these two, but you I refuse to pass - and we can't have a two person genin squad without permission."

Sakura cried.

[-|Later That Day with the Hokage|-]

"What is it, Kakashi?"

"Sir, it is about the genin team that you assigned to me."

"What is the problem? Didn't you fail them?"

"Sir, about that...currently, the teamwork is only existent between Naruto and Sasuke, while Sakura is refusing the help that those two have offered her. I wish to pass Naruto and Sasuke, but I do not want Sakura to be on this team."

"I see. Kakashi, what would you say if I told you that there was another team that had the same problem, only reversed in numbers?"

"You mean there was a team where one person was trying to help the other two, but those two were refusing help?"

"Yes."

"Which team was it? And who was the person?"

"It was the Ino-Shika-Chou team, and the only person who tried to make any teamwork happen was Yamanaka Ino. The other two did nothing while she tried to get them to work together."

"I see."

"Kakashi, I'm going to transfer Ino to your team."

"I understand, sir - should I conduct another test on this new trio?"

"Yes, tell me what happens with this new trio once you do."

"As you wish, Hokage-sama."

[-|The Two Days Later with Ino|-]

She had finally passed. What was more, she had somehow managed to get onto a team with Sasuke. Ino currently was in heaven. There was only one little problem...

"Naruto, why are you so late?" she asked.

"Why should I bother being on time? It'll take Kakashi probably another 50 minutes at least to remember to get here, so why should I have bothered to come earlier?"

Ino thought about that. She had to admit that his logic was sound. "Still, you never know if he might actually bother to be on time one day."

Naruto snorted. "The day that happens will be the Day of Armageddon." Naruto walked up to a tree, then, almost casually, started jumping up into the branches until he was roughly 30 feet in the air. "Wake me up when he gets here, will you, Miss Platinum?"

"Why are you calling me 'Miss Platinum'?" Ino asked, scowling. She thought she had been insulted, but Naruto's next words scratched that idea.

"Because you have really beautiful, platinum-blonde hair. I'll stop it if you want me to."

Ino felt herself blush a bit. "No, it's fine, don't worry about it."

Naruto nodded. "Will you wake me up when Kakashi gets here, Ino?"

"Sure, Naruto," Ino sighed.

"Thank you." Naruto smiled at her, and Ino felt herself blush again.

_That smile is really cute, and he's quite the flatterer, _she thought absently, as Naruto made himself comfortable and then promptly fell asleep. _Why does he sleep all the time, though? _she thought, rolling her eyes.

"Dammit. I was hoping to get a sparring partner," Sasuke muttered, leaning against the tree as he looked up at Naruto through the branches.

"You wanted to spar with Naruto?" Ino asked curiously.

"Yeah," Sasuke said. He was thanking his lucky stars that he no longer had to deal with Sakura in the mornings. Not that Ino didn't still try to weasel a date from him, but she wasn't as loud as the Pink Banshee.

"Oh. Is he really good?" Ino asked.

"Yeah. He could beat me any day of the week," Sasuke said. Ino was surprised to see a small smirk on his face.

"Why does that make you happy?" she asked.

"Because now I have someone who I can measure myself against."

"Oh," Ino said thoughtfully. She'd need some time to think this over. She felt like she might have learned something important about Sasuke, but she wasn't quite sure what it might be.

She spent the rest of the time before Kakashi arrived trying to weasel a date from him.


	3. Denial

**Guest**: Oh – I thought that it did have some privileges, like being able to go anywhere you wanted and such. I've seen stories that say this, and I always thought that it was because he was a Sennin (you're right, I made a mistake when writing Sannin – it's been corrected now) that Jiraiya was able to go anywhere and virtually do anything that he wanted. I mean, I suppose one could argue that he can go anywhere because he has to maintain the spy network, but that doesn't explain why Tsunade can also leave the village completely, or how Jiraiya and her manage to get away with almost everything that most other ninja wouldn't with the Hokage. Like, for example, not appearing in the village for over ten years, I believe it was, or ignoring some of the council's orders and things like that.

Anyways, thank you for the review – even if I've got the information wrong, I would still like to continue with the way I've set it up. Hope that doesn't put you off the story too much. :)

[-|Break|-]

Remember, people – I write for my own amusement, working for I Feel Like It Industries, but the number of good reviews is directly related to the update speed and chapter length. Just for future reference. Conversely, the number of flames is directly proportional to the number of days I will put writing the story off. Once again, just for future reference.

Moving on, I'm sorry about this chapter taking this long, but my life, unfortunately, come before my writing. Also, this chapter contained my first real fight scene. _**By the way, if there's anyone who could help me with writing battle scenes that would be greatly appreciated.**_

I might do the rest of the Wave Arc in the next chapter, and do only two chapters for the Chunnin Exams and the Tsunade Arc too, before moving on from that and doing what I consider to be normal chapter lengths again (aka roughly 2000 words each). I'm not sure, though, it's just something that I'm considering.

**Before I continue, I should warn you – this chapter has some strong language in it. This piece is rated T for a reason, and it's because Naruto can - and frequently probably will - use strong language. Proceed at your own risk.**

I found it interesting how quickly this story ended up becoming NaruIno without me even really trying. The characters write themselves, though, so I guess, in this story, Naruto must really have a thing for Ino, and Ino must be less fangirlish than I thought.

I've also noticed that Sasuke doesn't get a lot of attention or very much action. . . poor guy. . .

Enjoy the show!

Story of a Narcoleptic Genius

Chapter 3

_Denial_

[-|Break|-]

"Dammit, Tora!" shouted Ino, as said cat scratched her across the face. Now there was a scratch there that marred her face – and it was also bleeding. She practically threw the cat at Sasuke, who caught it despite his surprise (the cat proceeded to scratch him up instead). She put her hand over the mark, but looked up when she felt a hand cover hers.

"Let me fix that," came Naruto's quiet voice. Ino wasn't sure why she trusted him, but she removed her hand and watched as Naruto's hand glowed green and he moved his hand over her cheek, fixing the cut so there would be no scar. The blood had dried on her face, and Naruto took his handkerchief and gently scrubbed it off her. "There," Naruto said, smiling at her. "Not a trace of it left."

"We have Tora – c'mon guys, let's head back," said Kakashi. He seemed amused at the blush quickly spreading across Ino's face as she touched her cheek and avoided Naruto's gaze. Naruto was just smiling at her.

Suddenly, Naruto yawned. "Let's get going – I'm kind of tired." He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Well, this is our last mission, so all of you feel free to head home while I hand in our mission report," said Kakashi.

"Thanks, Kakashi," said Naruto.

"I wish you'd call me sensei, Naruto," sighed Kakashi.

"Your protest will be noted," Naruto deadpanned. "In the meantime, learn what it means to teach."

Kakashi face-faulted. _The issue is that I really haven't taught them anything but teamwork, _thought Kakashi, and sweatdropped. _At least, not anything besides that which they don't already know._

He walked away with a depressed air about him.

[-|Ino|-]

Ino felt the blush rise to her cheeks again as she thought about what Naruto had done earlier. She was walking home, and every time she thought about it, she felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment.

_Dammit! What is wrong with me? _Ino thought as she sighed. She caught sight of herself in a passing mirror, and stopped to stare. She saw a girl with red cheeks, a frown on her face, eyebrows scrunched together. She looked confused, and maybe a little irritated.

Ino shook her head as a picture of Naruto's smiling face drifted up to the surface of her mind. She walked on. _I'm supposed to like Sasuke-kun. So why is it that I can't get Naruto out of my head?_

She was so confused. She was just going to go home, take a bath, and try to forget everything.

Maybe even literally, if she continued to have this huge headache.

[-|Naruto|-]

_Why did I just do that? _thought Naruto, as he tried to smile at Ino, who was blushing. He had no idea why he bothered to heal her or why he bothered to wipe the blood on her face away. _What am I doing? _he thought with a mental sigh. He broke off from his thoughts as he heard Kakashi say something about reporting the mission so the rest could go home.

"Thanks, Kakashi," Naruto said.

"I wish you would call me sensei, Naruto," he heard his supposed "mentor" say.

"Your protest will be noted," Naruto tried to deadpan. It was difficult not to laugh in such a situation. "In the meantime, learn what it means to teach."

He had to contain his laughter as he saw Kakashi face-fault.

He started walking home, and his mind went back to its previous line of thinking. _What was I thinking, doing that?_ He paused, then mentally said, somewhat dryly, _Never mind – I wasn't thinking much of anything, was I? What is it with me when I'm around Ino? All of a sudden I go from smart-ass to gentleman, and it's not exactly like I have much respect for gentlemen, either. Really. . . just what is wrong with me?_

He shook his head as he decided to just go and sleep so that he could train like he normally did. He kicked off his shoes, and fell onto his bed, closing his eyes. He opened them again to find himself in an open meadow, looking up at a man in a red cloak with the word "Kyuubi" written in fancy kanji on the back of it. The man had red eyes with black slits, pointed ears, and flaming red hair.

No, really – he had , literally, _flaming _red hair. His hair tips were on fire.

"Welcome back, Naruto," the man said, The voice was deep, almost a growl, and there wasn't really any warmth in the voice as he said that. "Prepared?" he asked.

"Always." Naruto grinned.

"Then let's begin. . ." the nine-tailed demon lord said.

[-|The Next Day|-]

"No."

Everyone stared at Naruto, who had just refused the Hokage.

"Um, Naruto . . . what do you mean, 'no'?" asked Iruka.

"I mean that I won't accept that mission. Give us a harder mission, old man – a ninja shouldn't have his skills squandered on missions which are essentially just paid chores. He should have it tested, constantly, so that his skills always remain sharp. But you can't do that if all you're doing is chores and paperwork," said Naruto, glancing at the Hokage's desk for a moment as he said that last part. The Hokage caught the look and immediately understood where Naruto was going with that last part.

"The dobe has a point," Sasuke muttered, looking away.

"Thanks for the backup, teme," Naruto said disinterestedly. Sasuke just scoffed.

The Hokage smiled. "Very well, I will give you a C-Rank. You will escort a bridge builder and protect him from bandits and the like as he builds his bridge. You can come in, Tazuna."

A drunk man opened the door (drunk, judging from both the smell on his breath and the bottle in his hand), and staggered into the room.

"Wha's thish?" The man hiccupped. "You givin' meh a buncha kids ta protect meh?" He studied the kids with bleary eyes. He pointed at Ino. "Tha' blonde looks particularly weak." Ino's face frowned and she was about to hotly retort to this, when there was a _whoosh_ and a kunai was lodged in the wall behind Tazuna.

Everyone looked at Naruto, whose hand was stretched out, having just thrown the weapon. Naruto glared at Tazuna, his hair covering one eye as he stared at the man.

"She is strong," he said. His voice made it sound as if this was an absolute fact. He narrowed his eyes. "She does not need to prove that strength to someone like you."

Ino's eyes widened as she heard this, and she stared at Naruto as though she had never seen anyone quite like him before.

"Naruto, please refrain from attacking our charge." Kakashi looked at his student.

"He insulted Ino-chan, Kakashi," Naruto said, and Ino was taken even further aback at the irritation in his voice.

"I realize that, Naruto, but still, please refrain from attacking him regardless. And what is it going to take for you to call me 'sensei'?" asked Kakashi wearily.

"When you finally earn the right to it, I'll be sure to let you know," said Naruto. "You have to actually teach something for it to happen, though. Why do you care, anyway?"

Kakashi sighed. "Meet me at the South Gate in thirty minutes, all of you."

"Don't be late, Kakashi," said Naruto, in a threatening tone. "Or I'll burn your precious little books. Don't think that I won't."

Kakashi paled. "You. . . you know where they are, do you?"

"Every. Single. One." Naruto glared.

"Right. I'll be on time, you don't have to worry."

Naruto nodded, and walked out the door, heading home to pack a bag for a week-long trip.

[-|Ino|-]

Ino was confused. And maybe a little embarrassed, but mostly confused. The whole incident with Naruto left her feeling as though she was doing something wrong with her life, simply chasing after Sasuke. Naruto-kun had stood up for her. . .

Wait a minute, -kun? Since when had Naruto replaced Sasuke with that suffix?

Ino shook her head. She didn't have time for this. She had to get ready for a week-long journey, and she only had thirty minutes.

She'd contemplate this later.

[-|Emo-teme – I mean, Sasuke|-]

Sasuke was irritated. He wasn't really sure about _why _he was irritated. His mind kept going back to Naruto's actions over the past few weeks that the team had been together – Sasuke had realized pretty quickly that Naruto was incredibly strong. It was kind of hard to miss when you were sparing with him and unable to even get a single punch in. But something didn't make sense to Sasuke.

It was Naruto's actions around Ino.

If Naruto was so strong, stronger than Sasuke himself, than why was he being so friendly with the girl? You had to cut all ties to be strong, right? You can't have help when you want to become strong. You have to become strong on your own. That's what Itachi said. . .

Sasuke didn't understand that there were just so many faults in that line of reasoning.

[-|30 Minutes Later|-]

"Holy cow, Kakashi! You're actually on time!" Naruto said, raising his eyebrow.

"You thought that I wouldn't be?"

"Actually, I was rather hoping you wouldn't be because I wanted an excuse to burn your books." Naruto shrugged. "Oh, well, you can't have everything in life. And there's always next time, you know." Naruto's eyes glittered wickedly

Kakashi gulped.

As they started out on their journey, Ino was bugging Sasuke about getting a date when they got back to the village. Thus far, several hours into it, Sasuke had been ignoring her. Finally, she gave up for the moment, and looked around. Her eyes landed on Naruto, and she remembered him saying something about wanting to destroy Kakashi's books. She sidled up to him. He blinked and looked at her.

"What'cha need, Ino-chan?"

Ino blushed a bit at the suffix. "Oh well, nothing much, Naruto-kun, I was just wondering – what is it that's so bad about Kakashi-sensei's books?"

"Do you really want me to answer that, Ino-chan?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow both at the suffix and in question.

"Yeah." Ino nodded.

Naruto shrugged. "Kakashi's funeral. Okay, Ino-chan, the thing about his books is that they're from the Icha Icha series, which means that they're . . . well, they're porn." Naruto prepared his earlobes for the shriek.

". . .What did you say?" Ino asked calmly, but there was a dangerous undertone to her words. Naruto felt a grin coming to his face and did his best to suppress it.

"I said that they're porn, Ino-chan."

". . .He's so dead." There was now a malevolent and sinister glint in her eyes that made Naruto glad that he wasn't her target. He was, however, pleasantly surprised at the lack of shrieking on Ino's part.

"Would you like my help with that?" Naruto asked. He saw Ino's head whip around to stare at him in surprise.

"Why would you help me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because I hate perverts with a passion," Naruto said calmly. "And I'm also an infamous prankster, as any honest ANBU can tell you. Now, would you like my help with getting back at our 'sensei'?"

Ino thought about it for a moment before nodding. "What should we do?"

"Why don't we burn his books?" Naruto suggested. "I mean, we could prank him all we want, but unless we destroy the source of the perverted-ness, he's just going to keep reading it. We should destroy that before we start working on his pride. Granted, we'd have to wait until we get back to Konoha so that we can destroy them all at once, but still. . ."

"That's fine," Ino said, grinning evilly. "As long as we make him pay, I don't care how long I have to wait."

Naruto matched her grin, as they passed by a puddle in the middle of the road. He noticed it, and though he gave no outward sign, inwardly, he was rolling his eyes. _Really? A puddle in the middle of the road, when it hasn't rained in days, and the sun's been out for so long? Stupid, stupid._

The next moment, chaos exploded.

Two ninja rose up from the puddle and, connected by a chain, started to attack. Sasuke was up front, and Naruto and Ino were around Tazuna, with Kakashi trailing along in the back. Which meant that the ninja's first target was the jounin.

They ripped the man apart and moved on to the bridge-builder.

Just as they started running, however, Naruto ran off to the side, and the shot a kunai into one of the chain links. The force behind the throw caught the ninja off-guard, and the kunai lodged in a tree behind them, effectively immobilizing them with their own chain weapon. The two ninja looked at each other, and Naruto could tell that they were going to drop the chain.

"Dammit, like hell you're getting loose!" Naruto muttered, and he ran at the two of them. They raised their hands, which had claws on them, and they were just about to cut the blond up, when Naruto appeared off to the side of one of them, and knocked the man out with the handle of a kunai. He was just about to do the same for the other man, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Took you long enough, Kakashi," Naruto said, watching as his jounin instructor quickly lashed the two ninja to the tree they were on, before either one of them could move. "What, you couldn't let me knock him out first? Look, he's struggling – c'mon, it would make your job easier."

"No, Naruto, I want one of them conscious – I'm going to interrogate them," Kakashi said. He glanced at Naruto as he finished tying the two ninja up, one of them struggling vainly against the ninja wire. "Why do you want to knock him out so badly anyways?"

Naruto looked away for a moment, before saying, "If they had been allowed to continue going, they not only would have killed Tazuna, but they also would have hurt Ino – and Sasuke, too, and neither of them are strong enough to battle against ninja that are at least chuunin level."

Kakashi suspected that Naruto didn't give a damn about what happened to Sasuke, and was just mainly worried about Ino, but he didn't say anything. He'd deal with the budding romance between two of his charges later. "Now then, Tazuna, when I finish interrogating these two, I'm expecting you to give us the full report about why you lied about the level of this mission. Understood?" Kakashi leveled a glare at the man.

The man nodded violently. "Ye-yes sir!" He said. He looked ready to piss himself.

"Good man – excuse me for a moment." Kakashi went to the two ninja and started talking to them.

Naruto, on the other hand, went up to Ino, and asked, "You okay?" There was genuine concern in his voice for her well-being.

Ino had been terrified. She had been so scared when she saw Kakashi get torn up, and all she could was pull out a kunai and stand in front of Tazuna, shaking. She was still shaking when Naruto had come up to her, and the concern in his voice broke the damn that had been building up in her since the fight began.

She threw her arms around Naruto's neck and started crying.

Naruto had no idea what to do in a situation like this – he really wasn't good with people, to be honest. Somehow, though, his instincts kicked in, and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her and patted her back, waiting for her to gain control of herself again. It took a few moments, but when she finally did, she pulled away from him, and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Naruto," she said, her voice husky. Naruto saw her tear-stained face, and without another word, pulled out a handkerchief and held it out to her. She took it with surprise, then smiled again and used it to wipe her eyes. She handed it back to him, and said again, "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it, Ino-chan. I'm just here to help," Naruto said. "You okay?"

"No," Ino said honestly. She smiled at Naruto though, and said, "but I will be."

Naruto smiled at her and nodded.

"Well, now that the two lovebirds have broken up again, how about you tell us what all of this is about, Tazuna?" came the voice of a certain jounin instructor.

Naruto and Ino blushed, and looked away from each other. Naruto shot a glare at Kakashi, and then just shook his head, and turned to look at Tazuna expectantly.

It took Tazuna a few moments to start talking, but once he did, it was like a flood. The whole story of how the Country of Wave was under the dictatorship of a cruel man named Gato, and how said man had a monopoly on the market of Wave. With Tazuna building a bridge, that monopoly is threatened, so Gato wants to kill him, Tazuna, to stop the building of it. Tazuna further explained that he asked for a C-Ranked mission because, even with the entirety of Wave's money, that was all they could afford.

"Damn, of course, it couldn't have been something inconsequential, like greed or a mistake or anything - noooo, it just had to be something like this, didn't it? Something where it makes you want to help however you possibly can. Fuck my life." Naruto put a hand to his head as he said this with a weary tone. He noticed everyone looking at him, and raised an eyebrow, like "_What?"_ before he turned to Kakashi, and said, "I think we should continue with this mission. My conscience, or rather, what's left of it, will bug me about this forever afterwards otherwise."

"Uh-umm, I agree with Naruto-kun," said Ino. Kakashi looked at her in surprise, both because of the suffix, and because he thought she wouldn't really have wanted to continue after the scare she got back there.

Naruto looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and saw determination in her gaze, and smiled at her. She caught the smile, and looked away, blushing furiously. _I swear, he does that to me on purpose just to make me feel weird, _she thought distractedly.

"What do you think, Sasuke? Should we continue?" Kakashi looked at his third student.

"Yeah." _I'm not about to be outdone by that dobe,_ Sasuke thought.

"Well, I guess that's that, then," Kakashi said with an eye smile. "Lead on, Tazuna."


	4. Whatever It Takes

So, roughly 25 reviews. . . that's pretty good, compared to my other stories. By the way, you should check out Phoenix: Catching Air and Bitter, and tell me what you think. Haha, shameless plug, insert here.

Anyways, onto the next chapter. Y'know, this chapter really didn't want to be written. It just didn't. Can't imagine why. It was both the length of this chapter (somewhat), the lack of inspiration (mostly), and my own laziness (a little bit) that made this chapter take so long.

Pardonne-moi.

By the way, if you're wondering if _he _actually dies in this chapter, then, yeah, he's dead. He won't be coming back. Just thought I'd clear that up. Also, Haku-chan doesn't exist in the way that you know him. He never went with Zabuza in this story. And he's a girl. Not that I'm a huge fan of femHaku stories or anything, it just works for this story. Just clearing that up as well.

I don't own Naruto.

Story of a Narcoleptic Genius

Chapter 4

_Whatever It Takes_

* * *

Naruto had no idea _why _life seemed to enjoy screwing with him so much, but the evidence for such was right before his eyes, in the form of a swordsman with a gigantic zanbatou; his teacher being imprisoned in a water globe; and clones of previously mentioned swordsman blocking him from helping much.

How did they get into this position, you ask?

Hell if he should know. Ino, Sasuke, himself, and Kakashi were just walking down the road, minding their own business as they guarded the old drunk, Tazuna, on their way to the old drunk's house, when he suddenly sensed something in the bushes. He threw a kunai, but it turned out to be a white bunny. Then Kakashi tells them all to drop down, and one thing led to the next, and now here they were, with no choice except to save their teacher's sorry ass from the Demon of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza (the swordsman with the gigantic zanbatou).

Dammit. And here he thought that his teacher was actually strong. Didn't he used to be an ANBU captain? What the hell!

"Hey, Sasuke. Listen for a sec," Naruto said.

"You got a plan, dobe? Okay then," Sasuke said. Naruto wasn't looking, but he could hear the smirk in the teme's voice.

"Just don't mess up, Sasuke-teme."

* * *

Zabuza was in deep shit. Okay, there were probably better ways to put it, but currently, he could care less, and swearing made him feel better about it.

He thought that he'd had this fight in the bag. After all, the only one worth worrying about was Sharingan no Kakashi, and that guy had brats to protect. It was all going so smoothly. He'd fought with Kakashi, and managed to get him stuck in the water, before he trapped him in his Water Prison Technique. It was all perfect. . . and then those brats that he didn't think twice about managed to get together and trick him into releasing said jutsu so now he was fighting Kakashi again, and he wasn't coming out on the better end.

Zabuza cursed Kakashi, cursed his eye, cursed the brats, and then cursed Kakashi again (for good measure), before he was thrown into a tree. He looked up into the branches to see Kakashi looking down at him with a kunai.

"Can that damn eye of yours predict the future or something?" Zabuza demanded.

"You wanna hear a prediction, Zabuza? You're going to die." And without another word, the kunai came down, and Zabuza knew no more.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei? Oi, Kakashi-sensei? Wake up!" Ino said, shaking Kakashi's shoulder. She looked up at Naruto as he came to her side. "He's out cold."

"Yeah, so I gathered," Naruto said dryly. He pulled Kakashi's hitai-ate down, and then started rummaging around in Kakashi's pouches.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke said, coming up to the group with Tazuna in tow.

"Looking for – ah! Here it is! Here you go, Ino," Naruto said, holding out a little orange book to the girl. Her eyes lit up with what could only be described as sadistic pleasure.

"Why thank you, Naruto," Ino said, chuckling evilly. She put the book in her pouch, then looked at Naruto as a thought crossed her mind. "By the way, where'd your narcolepsy go? Normally you're sleeping all the time. What happened?"

"I met a princess who preferred me to stay awake when in her presence," Naruto muttered under his breath. He blinked as he realized what he said, and had to fight down a blush of epic proportions.

"Well, whatever it is that's woken you up, it's a good thing. Now, what are we going to do about our sensei?" Ino asked, oblivious to Naruto's murmurs (not that he was complaining).

"Here, I'll carry him," Naruto said. He made a couple clones and they picked Kakashi up. "Lead the way, Tazuna."

"Naruto, how the hell can your clones carry Kakashi? Clones don't have substance – they're just images." Ino looked at the blonde with a raised eyebrow.

"Not these ones. I can't make regular clones anyways, so I learned Shadow Clones instead – they're like Zabuza's Water Clones, but instead of water, I use shadows."

"Oh."

"You coming, Ino?" Naruto called to her. She realized that she was holding them up, and rushed after them to walk beside Naruto and ask what other things he knew.

* * *

Kakashi woke up with a start. He immediately noticed three things: One, he was on a futon. He definitely didn't have enough energy to walk anywhere after the fight, so someone must have carried him and put him to bed. Two, his hitai-ate was pulled back down. He thanked whichever student of his was smart enough to do that for him. And three, he was obviously suffering from chakra exhaustion.

. . . Fuck.

He heard a sound and turned his head to see that apparently Naruto had walked in. He was alone, and when he saw that Kakashi was awake, he raised his eyebrow.

"You've been out for a whole day, we're currently at Tazuna's house, and Tazuna has a daughter and grandson. Ino and Sasuke are with Tazuna at the bridge – the bridge is wide and open. You'd be able to see an attack coming from just about anywhere. I've got Shadow Clones patrolling the outside of the house, which is located near a forest."

Kakashi blinked. "Thorough report. Where did you learn to do that?" Naruto had just given a description of the mission, the status of the mission, and the location of his teammates, all with the professionalism of a subordinate reporting to his superior.

"I don't know what you could possibly mean," Naruto said with a grin. Kakashi shook his head, then stopped because it made his head hurt.

"So, what now? All things considered, I'm worried about what the next Nuke Nin is going to be like. After all, I highly doubt that Gatou's going to stop just because we managed to kill Zabuza. And considering that Zabuza is an A-rank Nuke-nin, I'm worried that the next one might even be S-rank. So, what are we gonna do, Kakashi?"

Kakashi was too tired to even ask Naruto to call him sensei. "We're gonna wait for your teammates to come back before we do anything else. In the meantime, I'm going to get some more rest."

"Understood, taichou."

"Taichou?"

"You're currently the acting commander here. So, yeah, taichou."

"You're willing to call me captain, but you're not willing to call me teacher?"

"That's because you've earned the title of captain, whereas you haven't earned the title of teacher. If you have a problem with that, then start teaching and maybe I'll consider it," Naruto said. He didn't even say it sarcastically, it was stated like a statement of fact. Was Naruto that tired? Speaking of which. . .

"Yes, well, thank you Naruto, and wake me up when the others get here."

"Hai, taichou."

_Thank God that he's in a cooperative mood. . ._

* * *

"So, what are we going to do now, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Ino later.

"We're going to train."

"And how are we going to do that, Kakashi?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Do you guys know the tree walking and water walking exercises?"

"I do."

"Well, I know tree walking..."

"The what and the what exercises?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at Ino, then at each other, and then Naruto said, "I'll teach you, Ino. It'll help with your control and also your capacity."

"Oh... okay..."

"And I'll show you the water walking exercise too, Sasuke."

"...Thanks, dobe."

"You're welcome, teme."

"Well, in that case, we have something for those two, but what about you, Naruto?" Kakashi said.

"What _about _me? Hmm?" Naruto asked back. There was some amusement in his tone. "What are you gonna teach me?"

"Hmm... Well, I could start teaching you some new jutsu - "

"Denied."

"... What?"

"I'd rather work on my basics rather than trying to master new jutsu or anything."

"Makes sense. Well, how about we work on a different exercise that involves whirlpools?"

"And what does that entail, exactly?"

"Basically you have to walk around a whirlpool going against the flow without getting pulled in or going under."

"Huh, haven't heard of that one before. Sounds good, Kakashi-sensei."

Everyone froze. Then Kakashi looked at Naruto, who was calmly eating, and said, somewhat faintly. "...What?"

"You're finally acting like a sensei, so I'm calling you that. Now, when are we starting, Kakashi-sensei?"

"...Tomorrow."

"'Kay. Well, I'm done, so I'm gonna head to bed. Thank you for the great meal, Tsunami-san."

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun." Tsunami smiled at the boy. She liked the boy - he was bright, cheerful, witty, and seemed to understand their plight.

"Night, everyone," Naruto said, before heading to the room he shared with Kakashi and Sasuke.

* * *

"You okay, Ino?" Naruto asked as he watched her land on her back after trying to get up the tree she had chosen for her exercise.

"Yeah. I'm fine. You can go and work on something else, you know, Naruto," Ino said, and she flashed a smile at him that made him feel like blushing. He didn't know what the hell his problem was when he was around Ino, but whenever he was, he felt wide-awake and alert, like he could take on an army, and he wanted Ino to be there when he did...

Wait, that sounded suspiciously like what he would feel like if he liked her...

...Dammit. Had he fallen for her? Talk about bad luck. She was so focused on Sasuke, too... He'd never have a chance.

He frowned at that thought, but shook his head, and told himself sternly, _You should be working on something else right now. Stop thinking about this, or you're going to get depressed._

"Well, alright then. I'll go and help Sasuke with the water exercise."

"Okay. See you around, Naruto."

"Yeah."

He didn't notice Ino watching his back as he walked away, or how she continued looking for after him even after he disappeared. She finally turned back to the tree in front of her, and thought, _In order t__o prove myself to them..._

* * *

_Ugh, this is difficult,_ Sasuke thought as he tried to walk on water. It was harder than he thought it would be. Damn! He fell under again. Thank God he'd brought a spare change of clothes, or he'd be in for a very uncomfortable night.

He glanced over and looked at Naruto watching him calmly as he attempted the exercise. Naruto had already mastered this exercise, and was supposed to be doing a different one involving whirlpools. Why did he continue hanging around with Sasuke then?

"Dobe, don't you have something else to be doing?" Sasuke looked away from Naruto as he said this, trying to maintain his disinterested air. Not to say that he actually did care, but rather, he didn't want to show any interest in anything Naruto could be doing.

"Well, yeah, but I thought I'd hang out around here for a bit in case you need help."

"I'm fine, Dobe, so go do your own exercise."

"Fine, teme, I'll leave you alone." Naruto left the clearing, and Sasuke stared after him for a moment before he went back to the exercise in front of him.

_In order to beat that man..._

* * *

"You ready, Naruto?" Kakashi asked. He had already taught Naruto a jutsu to create a whirlpool in the water, and now was waiting for Naruto to get himself ready to work on the exercise he had set for him.

Naruto stepped out on the water, and started walking. It was difficult and he wavered and dipped continuously, but he never fell completely in. He could barely walk two feet, however, without having one of his feet go under up to the ankle.

"This is really difficult," Naruto muttered.

_Yeah, but you're doing better than about 90% of other people who first start this exercise. Are you a genius, Naruto? Hardly anyone is capable of doing so well on this exercise on their first try... _Kakashi thought, feeling mildly amazed. He kept watching and felt his amazement grow when, by the end of the day, Naruto was able to make it once around the whirlpool before dipping. It took him about 10 minutes to do so, and he kept wobbling, but still, it was impressive work.

"You ready to go in, Naruto?"

"No. I'll stay out here for a little while longer."

Kakashi shrugged and headed back to the house.

Naruto concentrated on his feet, and walked back out to the whirlpool. _In order to protect my precious people..._

* * *

_... I'll do whatever it takes to get stronger!_


End file.
